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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28712151">There is No Eternal Departure</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SIHWAN/pseuds/SIHWAN'>SIHWAN</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Overwatch (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:09:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,744</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28712151</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SIHWAN/pseuds/SIHWAN</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff"><p>Twitter<br/>Written by @SIHWAN_FAV<br/>Translated by @yain0809</p></div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Genji Shimada/Angela "Mercy" Ziegler</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>There is No Eternal Departure</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Genji was to leave Overwatch after three months. That was what he hesitantly told me promptly after talking to Reyes. He fidgeted with the coffee cup we had named ‘Mercy Blending’. So, that’s it. I responded curtly, turning back and filling my cup of coffee. I had expected this. His complicated expression when he entered my office told everything. But hearing it directly from him, it felt worse than what I had expected. My hand shook a little.</p><p>  I sometimes reminisce meeting Shimada Genji for the first time. We had strived endlessly to save, to survive, to live on. Genji was the most difficult patient of mine and I can assure you that I put all my effort on him. Genji, well, had no choice. He decided inevitable symbiosis with me to survive. Grandly speaking, because I was the one who physically reconstructed his world from dust. Genji did his best to survive, and when I say ‘survive’, it isn’t limited to physical survival. I realized for the first time that one could have nightmares even when one had no consciousness. He asked again and again when he would be able to fight. I tried to give him as objective information as possible, but things weren’t rosy. Genji tasted frustration for the first time in his life and fell down ugly when he started recuperation with the prototype suit. Fear of no longer being able to fight suffocated him. Anti-anxiety drugs were added to his medications. If his body were intact, he only had to swallow one handful of drugs – but his body wasn’t made for consuming, so there was always an IV connected to his arm. After narcotic painkillers, a special drug for reinforcing his body, then drugs for his mentality. Packs of drug for Genji hang like garlands in his ward. Yet still he fought with the world.</p><p>  Genji’s recuperation process was dire. He had to learn how to move without straining his body too much, yet he wanted to be able to deliver critical attacks. Functional parts weren’t my responsibility, and I always felt sorry for the developer of Genji’s machine parts since he got stress-related hair loss. He won lots of patents during the upgrade process and got a decent sum for that, but lost hair never comes back, doesn’t it? Genji too was sorry for him. Until the final suit version Genji used up countless parts. He had a tendency to train without caring for his body since he could replace his inhuman parts. Sometimes he would even recommend turning off the pain sensor and hide his broken sensor until the regular examination. He did know that he would be scolded like a toddler. After two whole hours of yelling did Genji ask for forgiveness. I made him make a pact about it and forced him to sign it. Shima Genji. His sign was decent enough. His handwriting could have been neat from the start or it could have changed after recuperation, but nevertheless I liked his handwritten name.</p><p>  Genji slouched as if he had made a grave mistake. I’m sorry, Doctor Ziegler. We were quite good friends for forcibly being on the same boat. When he was emotionally preoccupied he always came to me first, and when I was absent he just spent time in my office. This is where I feel the most comfortable, he told me at the fifth consultation. That must be why he came to my office right after he had finished talking to Reyes. He must have wanted to tell me first. I hope his guilt doesn’t overcome his trust. I put my hand on his. It’s okay, Genji. I’m okay. The green lights around his eyes trembled. All this would have been impossible without you, Doctor. Genji chose his words carefully. That’s why I’m all the more sorry. Genji’s head hang so lifelessly that it was almost parallel to the floor now. He would have cried if he had his human parts. But ain’t I the one who wants to cry? Swallowing down the words, the tears, I gripped his hand more tightly, and told him what he wanted to hear than what I wanted to say. I want you to be happy. It was sincere.</p><p>  I saved him, consulted him, and became a close friend. All this helped him recover, but ultimately I couldn’t help him take a step forward. I could give him my shoulder when he wanted it the most. I was sufficiently meaningful to him. But this tranquility couldn’t wash down his want for vengeance. He would continually glance back like looking for someone and make a stress-induced tantrum. At those nights, he came to my office and lied down on my sofa. I covered the body that never gets cold with a blanket and made black coffee, as black as the night. We shared the poisonous drink and relied on one another’s shoulders. But that wasn’t enough.</p><p>  I am sure that I did my best for Genji. He thanked me countless times and tried his best to keep hold of my hand. But I couldn’t keep him forever. His emotions, those dark emotions harbored in his sea of a mind, were not something I could solve. Genji knew that. So he decided to leave. To exhume something he couldn’t find here.</p><p>  Genji said that he would leave for South Asia. Maybe I would not be shunned out there. I asked him where without actually waiting for his answer. For Indonesia, for Nepal, he wasn’t sure, but anywhere was okay for a start. There were still conflicts going on there, but they were where omnics and humans made the most peace. If it’s okay there, give me a letter or something. I can take a vacation there. I joked about it, but I knew that Genji would not contact me. Myself had no intention to actually go there anyway.</p><p>  His luggage was simple. In a backpack – it was so large that it almost looked like an immigration bag - he took emergency repair kits, spare parts not easily obtainable, and very few of his possessions. Due to that, the empty upper part of his bag was crushed shabbily. I chuckled and righted it out. He bowed his head curtly like always. I hang a small keyring which signifies Mercy at the corner of his backpack. I hope your journey is safe and sound. Walking down the long corridor to the building entrance, we talked about frivolous things. Food there is good, contains lots of spices. When I eat curry now, I’ll think of you. Genji laughed at my silliest jokes. We acted as if we weren’t parting forever, like we were going on a mission together, or going on a vacation. We changed topics when things got sensitive, and didn’t acknowledge about it. Maybe we laughed. Awkwardly. How strange, for we are of a people who don't laugh very much. I desperately strangled sad dark thoughts. Too soon we arrived at the entrance. I had always complained about how the building was too large, and suddenly it was too small. It would have been nicer if it was a little bit bigger. </p><p>  Get back soon. A typical goodbye. A goodbye in which one knows that he won’t come back, but one means that it’s okay to come back anytime. Genji noticed that quickly and nodded. We told each other to take care of oneself. Other members must already have said goodbye with Genji, for no one came out to greet him. Thinking back, I think Genji must have requested it. He must have liked me as much as I liked him. Our first meeting wasn’t that nice with half of his body missing, but all those times together had solidified us into good patient-doctor relationship, into good companions. I hugged Genji. A light touch, that’s all.</p><p>  Departure was finished by waving my hand from far away. Genji bowed his head deeply and started to leave. I gazed into the empty corridor, then headed for the elevator to get back to my office. The elevator had windows facing the outer wall, so I could see Genji leave. Since I had said my goodbye, I tried not to have any regrets. But his back seemed so lonely, so I stayed a bit longer in the elevator which had stopped at the designated floor. Genji stopped near the front gates.</p><p>  I thought that Genji woud leave without turning back. He had got everything at Overwatch and he had cleaned everything documentally, emotionally. There was no reason to turn back. But Genji seemed to fidget for a long time, then, he turned back and stared at something. I knew where he was looking at. It was my office.</p><p>  There was no time to ponder. My hand was already pushing the lobby button. A little bit more, a little bit faster. The elevator was quicker than most elevators, but still it took an eternity to arrive at the lobby floor. The door opened, my feet got tangled, each trying to get ahead of each other, but instinctively I regained my balance and started to run. It was quite in the past that I had participated in training so my breath got short, but I couldn’t stop. Fear of Genji leaving in that short instant overwhelmed me. Forcing my wobbling legs to move forward, I ran and ran. Tomorrow’s me would suffer from muscle ache, but who cares.</p><p>  Genji!</p><p>  Genji was just turning back, but seeing my familiar face his eyes got big. I didn’t stop and straight jumped into his arms. Not some light touch, like a typical goodbye, but a fierce touch. Genji’s body was cold due to the wind but I didn’t care. I just wanted to hold him for once. It’s okay if he never comes back. I just hope that this voyage would give him peace and rest, that he would become happy. In this last touch I gave him everything, my love, my tears, my warmth. I had known all along that I liked Genji. And so did he. And he had to leave because of that. Machine arms hugged me back, and my mind exploded into fiery warmth. One day, far far away in the future, if we meet again, I know that we will be able to love each other, love in a different form. For as long as we are alive, there is no eternal departure.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Twitter<br/>Written by @SIHWAN_FAV<br/>Translated by @yain0809</p></blockquote></div></div>
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